Mordheim Warband - Part III

(If you missed them, catch up with Part I, the planning, and Part II, the Vampire)

I've toyed with collecting Undead for Warhammer in the past, and every time I always do the same kind of army. Big powerful vampire, minimum number of token heroes, and endless zombie hordes!

It's not really competitive*, but it makes for a very fun game and is very fluffy. I've carried this over to my Mordheim warband, and with the consent of my opponents I have one vampire, one Necromancer, and endless zombie hordes! My objective each game will be to get as many zombies killed (re-killed?) as possible, and generally have lots of fun.

I did have a look around for alternative zombies, and there are some great models out there, but the GW kit is an absolute classic - one of the first boxed sets I ever bought. I picked a set up cheaply off Ebay, and now I have twenty undead servants to aid me in my quest for Wyrdstone. I deliberately built them using as few weapons as possible, with mainly bare hands, and painted with a limited palette (again using the Quickshade techniques from the English Civil War unit).

Not sure what to do with the bases yet...

"Alas, poor Yorrick - I knew he'd be gristly."

We're getting there! I still have my unresolved Vampire controversy - do I use the cool Reaper Mini one from Part II, or some of the lovely Classic GW minis? Specifically, I found a Bretonnian Sorceress model, which with some clipping and judicious painting, could look enough like the comtesse to be a combat stand in. I have been physically accosted by one party (who shall remain nameless) pressing me to go for the Reaper one, but I'll at least paint this up and see how they compare. Maybe a poll is in order...

Oh yes, one last admin point - I've added a new sidebar on the right which keeps track of what's going on at the moment, so you can see a little of what's in the works. I often write a post a few weeks in advance so this is as much for me as for you, but hope it's useful/interesting.

Thanks for reading,

Ed

*Having said that, my all-infantry Palladian patrol clash force (55 men) is yet to loose a game...**Why was Groundskeeper Willie burying corpses in the school grounds?

Comments

Absolutely love this, they look incredible. Simple but very effective. The colours and tones are absolute spot on, and they have a real texture about them - they look suitably decayed but it's not over the top. Perfect. Especially when they're done en masse. Looking forward to seeing a few skellies too if they're still on the books...

Thanks, simple was the key as I have twenty here and probably more to come. They're also specifically designed to look homogeneous as a group (claret, skin tones, bases) but with individuality (the poses, colour of clothes)

Was never a fan of the GW zombies - proportions are way out of whack and they look so cartoony to me. Far prefer Mantic's modular ones or better yet., Redboxgames own offerings, which I feel are the best fantasy zombie sculpts available right now. (http://red-box-games.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=25&products_id=175)

Saying that, painting is great, I love the mustard/babypoop brown colour you've chosen for their skin and it's nice to see that these fellows are being kept well fed by the claret painted about their mouths.

The proportions are certainly out of whack, but I think that's what I like about them - the nostalgia value is also a big pull. Having said that those Red Box ones are works of brilliance, I'm tempted to get some of those as well/instead... have you got any yourself?

Mustard and babypoop brown... why can't GW give their paints names like that. I thought I was quite restrained on the blood, since my 1990s attempts would have all their lovingly-painted detail obscured with masses of red, as if they'd been feasting on a group of haemophiliacs with a self-harm problem.

I don't have the Redbox zombies (Yet), though I do have some of their other sculpts and they are simply amazing. So crisp and in believable poses. I'm currently considering a colour scheme for this chap. http://red-box-games.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=25&products_id=65

For the blood, I think you could take it to the "next level" and make it more realistic by applying a coat of Tamiya Clear Red. That stuff is super cool for blood effects and I think most of the pro painters swear by it, or stuff like it. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tamiya-Acrylic-Mini-X-27-Clear/dp/B000BWZTYE

will we be seeing Henri de Natiers soon also? And I am up in the air about which figure to use. I like the GW sorcerous, and the Ripper min. But I am also a fan of using the old GW countess figure to represent the battle ready Marie d'Alscon.

That's also an option, to have several 'versions' of her. The other would be to have several members of her family so I can use all the models but still have the cool one. Next post will be something different but the week after I should have all the vampires ready for showing off.

As always Col. cracking stuff. While I agree with Dai that for me the Mantic zombies trump the older GW stuff, if its what you found them cheap (which is always the best way to find anything) then why not make use of it.

That Redbox set looks great though - Tre Manor the sculptor turns out some brilliant stuff. I think he has some gear through Reaper Minis as well.

That Brettoonian Sorceress will complement the Reaper version nicely as the more action posed stand in.

Thankyou, my dear Muppet. Yes, after writing that last reply I had another look and did fall slightly further in love. Oh well, I suppose I can always come back after a year or so and replace the classic zombies with these nice Redbox ones.